Time Warp Visiters
by tasklyn
Summary: When war leads to the destruction of Konoha, a group stranded in the ruins of the village take the not so easy way out. Time-travel. First fanfic. Please read and review
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

In wartime, the guard duty at the village gate was an important job, but still an extremely boring one. This is why the two chunin guards currently had glazed eyes, even as they stood completely straight near the large open doorway. Nearly invisible, a single ANBU also stood guard from the nearby tree-line. He was just as still, but much more alert. Even with the war still going on between the hidden villages, the day seemed peaceful.

This appearance was not complete, however, as the ANBU suddenly stiffened, and turned his masked face. Soon after, the chunin also became alert as the chakra build up the ANBU had sensed became strong enough for them to notice. As the chakra continued to build, but its source remained unknown, the ANBU began to prepare for an attack, and the chunin sent out a quiet alarm: a specially marked eagle that made a spiral flight towards the center of the village and circled the Hokage Tower.

Less than a minute later, a group of shinobi had gathered, some staying out of sight and others not, along the wall and at the gates. All of the shinobi were of chunin rank or higher, and the group was casually tense, trying and failing to diffuse the worry the villagers had begun to display at the sight of so many ninja at the ready. As the two chunin explained to a few of the higher ranked ninja, the ANBU who had arrived took to the trees and began to spread out into the forest in teams of three, trying to identify the origin of the now massive levels of chakra that were emanating from the forest. One of the teams took notice of the ANBU who had been on guard duty, and jumped up onto the tree branch next to him.

"Any clue who or what it is?" asked the shortest of the three, a woman wearing the typical ANBU armor and a mask stylized like a falcon. The kunoichi's teammates, one a man wearing a tiger mask and the other a man with an eagle mask, both had brown hair. The team leader had inky black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. The first ANBU did not turn to look at the newcomers. His head, topped with spiky reddish hair, shook just barely before he spoke.

"There is too much of it. It has spread all over, and I was only able to get a vague direction earlier on. It is strange, however, that it does not seem ill intentioned. Dangerous, certainly, but not intentionally, nor towards us."

The eagle masked man now spoke. "I assume that is why an alert was signaled, but no movements for a full defense ordered." The red head raised a shoulder in a shrug. He did not know why the chunin had not sent word for defense against an attack on the village, especially since they could not have sensed the intent of the chakra, but he did agree with their actions. Meanwhile, it appeared that the chakra was finally doing something; the power coalesced into one area. The condensing of the power drew a wind into the air, forming a miniature tornado in a clearing near the group of ninja. As the chakra became visible and formed a solid wall of circulating chakra in the center of the clearing, the shinobi in the forest and near the gate all came forward to surround the area in ready stances in two man deep lines. Others ranged in the treetops behind and some remained on the village wall. It was as the chakra was being pulled into a final circular area of about 5 feet diameter that two more teams of ANBU arrived in defensive positions around a man who walked calmly forward.

The Hokage, the leader and the strongest shinobi of Konohagakure, walked into the clearing. The blond haired man faced the raging torrent of chakra with a curious tilt of his head, but no apparent concern. He continued forward until he stood within the circle of Konoha ninja, only feet away from the nearly solid formation of chakra. Despite this danger, the man dressed in a long white trench coat with flames rising up from the hem reached out till his fingertips just grazed the outermost layer of chakra. The energy jumped in a spark to his fingers and ran up his hand like an electrical current, till it had diminished into nothing near his elbow.

When the Hokage had first touched the chakra a large number of the ninja had stiffened, some of the younger ones even gasped. It was clear to the more experienced shinobi, however, that the spectacle was not an attack. As the Hokage nodded to himself, more of the ninja realized this and relaxed.

"Dragon," called the Hokage easily. The red haired ANBU jumped down from his perch and stepped forward, facing his young leader.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"If you could please name a team of 8 to watch this portal for a while, I need to go collect something from my office. All chunin return to the village--except for you two." He pointed to the two gate guards. "You stay on the road and prevent any curious villagers from coming this way. Dragon, put a jounin on the gate and send one to retrieve at least two medic-nin, as well. Everyone who Dragon does not choose return to what you were previously doing." With that the Hokage disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving his ninja to sort themselves out.

"Falcon, Tiger, Eagle, Panther, Lizard, Coyote," Dragon rattled off quickly before pausing. He looked around to see who else to choose, and then continued, knowing that there would be grumbling about his choices even as he named them. "Hatake and Morino, as well. Izumo at the gate, and Takama get the medics. Everyone else is dismissed." Just as he expected, Dragon heard several jounin mutter about getting passed over for two young and relatively new jounin. Some, at least, understood his choices.

Both of the young men had been and still were considered prodigies and geniuses in their fields, and were also loyal to a fault to the Hokage. Neither would hesitate to die for their Hokage or by his order. But that sort of loyalty was easy enough to find in jounin ranks. What was less common was the loyalty so strong they would not only fight and die by the Hokage's order, but do literally _anything_--murder, torture, even rape--if the Hokage told them to do so. It wouldn't matter the victim, either. A single enemy or an entire village of innocents, or even comrades or family members: to these two young shinobi the Hokage knew more than anyone else in the village and everything he ordered done had a reasoning behind it that made it necessary. At the same time, they did not expect the man to be perfect, and understood that he might make mistakes. They merely trusted that if he was wrong, the actions he had ordered them take would be better than the consequences would have been if he had been right and had done nothing.

This sort of loyalty went well beyond trusting the man with their lives. These jounin, only teenagers, trusted the Hokage with their minds and hearts, and were willing to tear apart their morals and inhibitions for the man and the village. This was the kind of loyalty that was rarely found outside of ANBU, and was the reason that the group was so secret and selective. True, they were the ultimate and final defense and offense for the village apart from the Hokage, but the real reason was because the missions that they operated were the sort that none of the civilians would approve of. Indeed only the most cynical or war-scarred of the veteran shinobi would approve of their methods.

Dragon had recognized this loyalty in the two, and it appeared that a surprisingly large number of the more experienced and knowledgeable nin had as well. It was because of this realization that not a single ANBU, chosen for the team or not, nor nearly a dozen of the senior jounin showed any discontent with Dragon's choice.

It was also this loyalty that Dragon suspected would be needed for whatever was about to happen, because the actions that had already been taken assured the man that something would be happening. The young Hokage had shown no fear or wariness facing the chakra mass, and had not shown any expectation of an attack, yet he had called for medics. That meant either he planned to do something that would result in injuries to the group Dragon had called, whoever had created the chakra mass would be injured, or they would be starting a fight with the originator of thing that as yet had an unidentified purpose. If the third did occur, it was becoming less and less likely that the creator was an actual enemy, which made it necessary for the selected team to be willing to follow orders no matter what shape their "victims" might take. Questioning orders based on morals could not be allowed, so Dragon had chosen his team specifically for their loyalty to the Hokage, which was to the point that others might see it instead as viciousness, blood-thirstiness, and lack of morality.

The other ninja moved off as the 7 ANBU and slightly surprised, but hiding it well, jounin circled the chakra mass in a much looser and more spread out defense. As the minutes passed, the chakra continued to gain strength, but remained nearly the same size, becoming more and more solid. It also flattened into a disk shape, and took on the appearance and consistency of a smooth surface. Nothing more seemed to happen, however, before the Hokage returned.

He approached with a rather large scroll under one arm. It appeared he had not only collected the scroll, but also the person following behind him. With long white hair, old-fashioned clothing, and a giant scroll strapped to his back, the newcomer was easily identified by the group as Jiraiya. The Toad Sage of the Legendary Sannin and the current Hokage's old sensei followed the blond with an exasperated but curious expression that gave the impression that he had no idea what exactly was going on.

The older seals master let out a low whistle as the two approached, and the exasperation dropped from his face in the blink of an eye. Once again crossing the ring of shinobi to stand before the chakra mass, the Hokage took his eyes off the phenomenon only to scan the group Dragon had chosen and to give said ANBU an approving nod. The blond-haired man, trailed by his white-haired ex-mentor crouched on the ground by the chakra and slowly unrolled the scroll he had brought. As it opened the surrounding ninja couldn't help but take a quick glance at the scroll, and then a much longer one as they processed the information it held.

The scroll held a technique which implemented seals, which explained the presence of Jiraiya, but it was the purpose of the technique that drew the groups attention. Set before them was a scroll entirely devoted to the theory of time-and-space movement. It was little known that it was such theories that had allowed the Yondaime to develop his hiraishin technique, which was now added into the margins of the scroll, missing only the final precise seals necessary to use the technique. It seemed that this was not the only thing the Hokage had worked on from this scroll, either. Towards the very end of the scroll, squeezed into the margins next to a proposed seal sequence for a similar movement technique, only planned for a much bigger impact, were notes on problems with the proposed sequence, recommended corrections, uncertainties in the procedure, and possible consequences if it were improperly done.

It was as they read a theory on the creation of this "time-and-space mass movement technique" they became focused on two main points. One was the possible appearance the "gate" between the original site and time and the new point would take. The second was on the need for a corresponding seal sequence to be done at the receiving point to prevent any chance of instability in the technique, which was also a risk if the people performing the technique failed to properly draw the seals in specific form and arrangement. The consequence of instability was added in after this recommendation and emphasized. _**'Risk of explosion of the site of the attempt on both ends or implosion of the time stream and complete destruction of specific time line.'**_

With widening eyes, the group looked between the two seals masters now clearing the ground around the newly named "gate" and setting out supplies, the apparently harmless scroll which described the possible demise of the entire world if the seal master on the other side of the gate didn't know what they were doing, and the still powering up gate that suddenly seemed a lot more important than it had when everyone decided it wasn't an attack. For a moment Dragon wondered why the Hokage would risk anchoring an unknown person's gate to Konoha when it might now be the means of getting to the village to attack, rather than the attack itself. But then he realized: that was where the instability causing an explosion/implosion came into effect. They didn't have a choice, and nothing they did could help if their corresponding seal maker was incompetent.

Dragon's thoughts were rounded up by a singular statement from Lizard.

"Well, fuck."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: _So this is the second chapter of Time Warp Visitors (and I know it says visiters on the story name, but that was a mess-up that I don't feel the need to correct). This chapter is more than twice as long as the last one and honestly, I probably will never write another chapter this long. It was exhausting. _

_Also, if anyone has any ideas for the path or ending of this fic, please let me know, because I have nothing definite planned._

_Oh, and about the time period. You'll find out eventually that this is only about a year or even less before the Kyuubi attack is supposed to be, and the travelers are from about 2 years after the Shippuden time, although I am not following what's happened in the Shippuden episodes. I know in chapter 1 I mentioned there was a war going on, and I meant the Third Great Ninja War, or whatever its called. I'm not sure if that was still going on when the Yondaime was Hokage, but it was like a year after Kakashi got his eye that the Kyuubi got sealed, so I'm saying my timeline works. Besides, if a war is going on, that means more fighting scenes. __J_

**Chapter 2**

In a matter of minutes the several feet of clearing surrounding the chakra gate had been packed down to a clean, flat area with a consistency similar to stone thanks to an earth jutsu of Jiraiya's, and several layers of seals painted in a mixture of blood and ink had been traced with a steady and careful hand. These seals were then powered up by a flow of chakra from 10 points several feet further back around the gate where stood the 7 ANBU, 2 jounin, and 1 sannin. The Hokage now stood in the area between the seals and the shinobi anchoring them with cut palms and streams of chakra. The blonde was going through a long stream of hand seals and had been for over a minute, the blurs of his fingers barely seen by the larger number of the shinobi present, and only Hatake's sharingan could actually pick out which hand seals were being used.

The effects of his work were visible to all, however. As the glowing seals around the gate began to pulse, a miniature mirror image of the seals seemed to appear on the gate itself. The seals glowed a strong burning white. Then another set of seals began to appear beneath the originals. These chakra forms, an almost violent shade of violet, were slightly different from the ones the Hokage had worked, and there also seemed to be more of them. The two sets of seals on the gate began to pulse in unison with the seals on the ground, and the sets began to merge, forming a single ring with twice as many individual seals, all glowing a new grayish color over the light blue of the gate. The center of the light blue mass at the same time became lighter, thinner. Eventually, the Hokage slowed and stopped forming hand seals, panting with exertion; the gate completed its own activation, and took on the appearance of a large, fogged up, round window.

"You can stop anchoring it now, it will sustain itself," the Hokage muttered distractedly, his eyes focused on the picture the gate showed. The ninja, similarly focused, stopped their chakra flow and stood without a word.

"We're going to need those medics. Where is Takama?" questioned Dragon quietly. Eagle paused for a moment, and then replied:

"There seems to be a disturbance at the hospital. He is collecting the medics, but it might take a while for them to arrive, as they might be non-nin."

The scene which the group now looked upon with morbid fascination was one of blood and utter destruction. A battlefield in a now unidentifiable village, covered in bodies and broken weapons and blood, and a group of apparent civilians huddled only feet away from the gate under the protection of half a dozen shinobi, while another dozen or so went head to head with a force of several hundred on a barren stretch of land that was covered in piles of rubble that had the vague shapes of the bases of buildings.

The larger portion of the attacking force was beyond what might have been the village's outer wall, considering there was a lot less rubble past the low, broken form. The defending shinobi then held off the attacking nin among the body strewn ruins. The ninja guarding the villagers all stood facing the battle, which kept their hitai-ite out of view, and the other fighters were too far away to be identified. There was something so familiar about the very spirit of the shinobi, however, that the Konoha group couldn't help but feel their hearts clench as they _knew_ that the destruction they were witnessing had been visited upon their home--upon Konoha.

"The gate!" came a sudden exclamation from the villagers across the portal. A child had apparently turned and spotted the other group through the gate. Two of the nearby shinobi turned, as did the majority of the villagers, and when it was seen that the gate was, in fact, open, the villagers began to move towards them.

"Hold on," called one of the shinobi on the other side, as she turned towards the gate. As she turned, the hitai-ite on her forehead revealed the symbol of Konoha. The kunoichi stepped between the gate and the villagers. Wary, but not fearful, she approached the gate along with the another young nin. Neither appeared to be any older than 15, if that, but both wore shinobi vests, declaring them to be at least chunin. The girl's eyes flickered around, searching out each of the ninja on the other side of the gate as she asked, "Will you grant us refuge?"

The group on the other side of the gate startled. "Of course," replied the Yondaime, his surprise at the question clear in his voice. The girl studied them for a moment more, and turned to the group waiting behind her.

"Hamaru?"

Another ninja stepped forward. His hitai-ite was wrapped around his upper arm, and a pair of goggles covered his forehead on top of a bandana. A loose cloth mask hid his lower face, and his vest was stained with blood. "Trust boss," he said simply, and the other shinobi immediately began escorting the villagers through the gate.

The girl and boy standing before the gate moved through first. Each reached out with a hand and pushed through hesitantly, their bodies following and slowing as they passed through the membrane of the gate, only to speed back up on the other side. The girl stumbled a bit, and then more as the boy fell into her back as he passed through behind her. She was back on her feet immediately with a kunai in one hand, before she relaxed and turned a wry smile on her companion. 'Sorry' he mouthed, before moving to the side to allow the villagers to get through.

A dozen or so villagers came through in ones or twos. The group was comprised almost entirely of children, with a few of the youngest being carried by the older ones. All of the children were dirty, and all of the older ones were bloody, either with their blood or others'. Kunai pouches and knives could be seen on the older children as well, though only a few seemed comfortable with them (probably academy students or young genin.) In this group were also a pregnant woman being helped along by an elderly couple, though the gentleman was limping and breathing hard.

After this group came another ninja carrying a baby in one arm, but with her other hand gripping a shuriken. As soon as she passed through she handed the baby off to the elderly woman and offered her shoulder to the man, moving him away from the gate and allowing him to sit against the nearest tree.

Dragon's group moved to help the villagers, identifying the injured and pulling the entire group out of the way as a second group of civilians came through. This group held more injured people being helped along by their companions. A couple of children in their early teens and a few more elders helped or were helped by about twenty middle-aged or young adults. This stream of villagers was followed by two more ninja who moved to speak with the kunoichi who had spoken from the other side of the gate. Most of Dragon's group organized the villagers in the forest between the clearing and the road, with the other few shinobi helping and also unconsciously setting up a guard around the civilians while keeping everyone else within their view. Dragon himself, however, remained with the Yondaime and Jiraiya, who still stood looking through the gate at Konoha's future.

The shinobi who had apparently been in charge of the guards, the one the young kunoichi had called Hamaru, had not moved from his place beyond the gate, staring at the small defending force struggling near the village edge.

"Boss," the boy whispered. The Hokage heard the worry and pride mixed in the young shin obi's voice, and tried to identify who the teen was focused on. Turning back to the fight, he was startled. While he had been distracted by the young shinobi, the fighting group had started to pull back. Three of the shinobi were sprinting back, one carrying a body over his shoulder. As they ran, the other two paused momentarily to pick up more bodies from the rubble, until each was carrying one of their comrades, and the man was carrying two. Despite this extra weight, the three had impressive speed as they charged toward the gate.

As they approached their forms became clearer. One of the women had long platinum blonde hair stained with blood that was pulled up in a ponytail, and was wearing black pants covered in pockets and pouches with a black version of ANBU armor but no mask. The second kunoichi had bright pink hair, cut short, and a red tunic-shirt over mesh and long armored finger-less gloves. The man was built like a bull, and was in full armor, a dark red color that matched the blood stains, with spiky medium brown hair and face paint designs.

Once the three had gotten to the base of the hill that the gate resided over, Hamaru called out, "What's boss got planned now?"

"We were ordered to pull back and get any survivors out. We came first to supply medical," replied the pink-haired kunoichi. She breached the crest of the hill and kept going, passing the young shinobi and not even pausing before she hit the gate, pushing through at breakneck speed. They other two followed and the women immediately set their burdens down and got to work on their half-dead comrades. The man, on the other hand, passed his burden off and went back through the gate the other way.

"Team 8 is coming back. I'll go wait for Shika," he said over his shoulder. The blonde nodded her head in return.

Sparing only a quick glance and an approving nod for the two women's obvious ability as medics, the Hokage turned back to his perusal of the remaining defenders. The next group had already broken off from the fight, and the defenders, now 6 short, were beginning to be pushed back. At the moment Konoha's 7 remaining protectors were facing an increased attack, as the enemy force realized that their opponents were planning an escape, even if they didn't know how. The way that the defenders were forced to respond to the increased attack pushed them back far enough for them to be seen from the gate and broke apart the systematic defense that they had previously been using. Now, instead of each defender having a place and purpose that allowed them to move as a unit with interchanging parts, the group was fighting in pairs or solo against the flood of attackers.

Regardless of his worry that the group would be overrun, the Hokage couldn't help but be impressed with the fighting ability of the shinobi. By his side Dragon whistled lowly as the defenders actually turned the tide against the attackers. At the same time the Hokage had finally determined which of the fighters was the "boss". Of the seven remaining shinobi, four wore the ANBU uniform, while two were in jounin attire, and one was in the odd half-way ANBU uniform that the blonde kunoichi was wearing. Only one of the defenders appeared to be a woman. She was wearing a shredded jounin vest strapped down with weapons over a loose white long-sleeved shirt and dark gray pants. She had a series of knives strapped to each thigh, and another sticking out of the top of the bandages above her shinobi sandals. Scrolls rounded her belt, and two swords were sheathed on diagonally on her back. She currently wielded a third sword from her hip sheath in one hand, while the other switched back and forth between unleashing huge numbers of kunai and shuriken from sealed scrolls and forming one-handed seals for jutsu. Fighting near her was a Hyuuga in ANBU uniform, glowing fingers destroying all of the enemies in a 20 meter radius with ease. What attackers turned away from these fearful defenders were taken down by a blur of green and black that even Hatake couldn't identify until he stopped moving in order to let the attackers get closer. This speed demon was in a bright green spandex shirt under his darker green jounin vest, and black cargo pants. He had heavy eyebrows and black hair in a tight ponytail.

While these three protected the right flank, two others held the left. One was the shinobi in armor similar to the blonde medic's: a black version of the ANBU armor, but no mask. Under this he wore a mesh shirt. His hair was dark and in a short, messy ponytail. His movements were deceivingly sluggish as he dogged attacks, but his own attacks were fast and deadly. Shadows could be seen moving independently of any of the fighters movements, leaping at the attackers, dragging and strangling those near him--marking this man as a member of the Nara clan. The other man on this side was in full ANBU uniform with spiky black hair. He used both kenjutsu and taijutsu in extremely destructive forms. A sword channeling lightning was especially helping to create a whirlwind of guts and blood surrounding the man.

This left the two remaining shinobi to hold the center of the defensive line. Both wore full ANBU armor with no clue as to rank, but the Yondaime had determined that the shorter one was the leader of the defending force. He stood slightly ahead of his companions, his attacks holding off not only the ninja before him and the ANBU at his side, consisting of more than half of the attacking force, but also a large number of the ones attacking his companions on the flanks.

His hair gleamed bloody red in the light, but a few blonde streaks gave the impression that the red really was blood, rather than his natural hair color. He used ninjutsu almost exclusively, though he periodically formed clones who used more hand-to-hand combat.

The other man defending the center of the line wasn't slacking off, though. He too was decimating the enemy ranks with ninjutsu, while at the same time cleaning up the few who managed to slip past the blonde's attacks before they got close enough to _maybe_ get an attack off on the blonde. It was this other shin obi's protective nature over the shinobi laying a defense for them all that really confirmed the blonde's position.

With his mind made up, the Hokage called out to the shinobi on the other side of the gate. "Is the ANBU next to the gray-haired one in charge?"

Hamaru started and turned to the Yondaime as his companion chuckled quietly. When the younger nin realized who had spoken he nodded nervously. "Yeah that's boss. But don't let Captain Wolf hear you call him gray-haired. He won't like it."

The heavily muscled shinobi laughed outright at that. "The old man is just sensitive about his age."

Considering not one of the ninja from the future he had seen the faces of so far appeared to be any older than twenty, the Hokage had the idea that the ANBU wasn't nearly as old as they insinuated. AS he thought on this, the second group of retreating defenders reached the gate. Two hunter-nin and another Hyuuga came with two more injured shinobi thrown over the back of a giant hound. Both of the hunters had their cloaks on and hoods up, making them nearly identical except for their heights. The kunoichi Hyuuga between them stood proud in bloody sweats with her hitai-ite around her neck, and her forehead clear of any markings--a main branch member.

She stepped through the gate and came directly to the Yondaime. "Lord Hokage, our commanding officer has requested that you prepare to dissolve the gate. As Sannin Jiraiya is also present his assistance is recommended." The kunoichi voice was quiet but strong, reflecting her appearance.

"If I begin the process, I won't be able to stop it. The remainder of your forces will have a limited amount of time to disengage and retreat."

"Both our acting-Hokage and our commander are aware of the risks. Everyone else is waiting for my signal to retreat." At this a slight tremor entered her voice and Dragon's head turned to the conversation in surprise. The intonation of the words 'everyone else' held a glimpse of an unspoken plan.

Jiraiya finally spoke. "You can't mean that two men are going to try to hold off an army of that size. And still escape? Not likely. Suicidal isn't a good trait for a commanding officer or a Hokage."

Suddenly the atmosphere in the clearing was cold. The villagers who had been talking amongst themselves fell quiet, and the shinobi from the future fingered weapons. One of the hunters, the shorter of the two, spoke coldly. "He may be an idiot sometimes, but he is not suicidal. I also assure you that he is the best fighter in Konoha--our time or yours--and that includes yourself and your student." His voice was growling and his posture threatening. The Hyuuga laid her hand on his arm, but she was glaring icily at the older ninja as well.

Ignoring the hostile looks, Jiraiya rose an eyebrow in disbelief. "Better than Minato? Aren't you overestimating him a bit?"

"Watch and find out," replied the second hunter with a hint of dry amusement in an otherwise emotionless voice.

Jiraiya opened his mouth again, but the Yondaime shook his head briefly and he shut it again. Through the entire conversation Dragon had remained still, his eyes firmly fixed on the distant battle. Now his slight movement drew the Hokage's attention. His fingers moved quickly in ANBU sign '_They are waiting on the signal. What is your decision my Lord?_'

"Jiraiya! Let's begin."

The sannin's lips thinned but he followed his ex-student's lead. The two started to place more seals around the edge of the circle of already activated seals. As they did this the Hyuuga kunoichi went back through the gate to signal the defenders. Chakra rose from her upraised palms, visible and spreading into a shape far above her head. Her eyes closed in concentration as she molded her chakra into the giant shape of a bird with outstretched wings, before she quickly drew the chakra back into herself and falling back through the gate.

As this happened the two seals masters began overflowing certain seals with their own chakra, and forced them to deactivate. At the same time, four more of the defenders broke off from their fights, leaving the remainder to increase their powerful attacks in size, number, and quickness in order to hold off the enemy. Now the defenders in ANBU garb, minus the Hyuuga, were the only ones left to hold off the army, and the third ANBU, with the black hair, was moving back steadily. His gradual disengagement left no openings in his defense, nor those of his comrades, who now moved in an ever quickening flurry of destruction and, perhaps, desperation. The black haired shinobi finally took off after the larger group, blurring with speed.

These five did not bother to look through the debris for survivors as they sprinted towards the gate (with the one trailing behind the other four); there was no time for it. In record time the group of five reached the gate, with the taijutsu speed-demon barely breathing hard, and probably more from the fight than the run. They plowed through the gate without stopping, nearly tripping over the seals masters and Dragon, who were directly in front of the gate.

The other two shinobi who had been waiting on the future side of the gate came through at a more relaxed pace behind the last of the five, and all of the future shinobi gathered in a group behind the Hokage, his ex-sensei, and the ANBU guard. The kunoichi medics began working on their comrades as the group stood facing the gate. The group appeared emotionless, unworried, calm, but the other ANBU and jounin could see a slight tightening around the eyes and mouths of the unmasked ninja the had nothing to do with the pain of their own wounds, and not once did their eyes stray from the forms of their commanders.

"Four minutes," came a labored call from the Yondaime, as he and Jiraiya continued to shut down the seals. As if hearing this, the blonde on the other side of the gate let loose a wind jutsu that blew debris and earth and shinobi away in a thirty yard radius. Immediately after this he formed a dozen shadow clones who quickly went on the attack. The original then turned to his last remaining companion. From the gate, the group gathered could not begin to understand what was going on, but they saw the blonde gesture towards the gate and the other vehemently shake his head. The younger shinobi again gestured towards the gate, this time sharper, and the other one froze for a moment.

A whisper came from the black-haired ANBU, "What are you doing? This wasn't part of the plan, baka." The older ANBU was now recovering from his apparent shock and turning away from the blonde. Turning to face the gate. "No, no, no." The ANBU's voice was no drawing out into almost a keening groan, and raising in volume. The gray-haired ninja suddenly sprang into motion. As quick as the taijutsu user before, he was sprinting back to the gate, leaving the blonde to hold off the entire enemy force. "No!"

The younger ninja was surrounded by a storm of jutsu as he flung technique after technique into the mass of enemy fighters, not even bothering to really aim. Every now and then an enemy attack would get through and destroy one or two of his clones, and he would make another half dozen in retaliation, so his own numbers continued growing. By the time the older ANBU with a mask now visibly depicting a snarling wolf passed the gate in a black and silver streak, the blonde had more than two dozen clones ranged around him.

"Wolf, what is he doing?" exclaimed the other young ANBU.

"Control yourself Jaguar," was the growling reply. A hint of frustration and worry lay underneath the cold anger. "The gaki has a plan so shut and wait." He turned to the other group and addressed the Yondaime. "How long before the gate is unusable Namikaze-sama?"

"Just over two minutes. I can maybe slow it down 40 seconds or so, but no more."

"No, don't slow it down. Speed it up."

Everyone in the clearing started in surprise. Heads whipped around, and the shorter hunter-nin growled. The pink-haired kunoichi closed her eyes and took a steadying breath, while the Nara narrowed his eyes calculatingly. Only the other hunter and the ANBU Hyuuga showed no reaction, though their hood and mask might have hidden them. Even Jiraiya's eyebrows quirked in surprise and Dragon cocked his head questioningly. The Hokage instantly shook his head.

"The only way to do that is to tear apart the seals, that will leave this side of the gate completely inactive and inaccessible. There's no way he could get through without this side anchored."

"He can do it," insisted the other.

"Why should I believe you?"

There was a pause. It seemed to everyone that time was passing impossibly slowly.

"One minute and thirty," Dragon said, having counted down from the four minute mark without really thinking about it. His voice broke the stalemate and the man from the future reached up to his mask, sliding it away from his face. As the wolf mask was removed the Yondaime's jaw dropped.

A cloth mask, tight like a second skin, hid Wolf's lower face still, but his eyes, combined with his hair, gave him away to everyone gathered. One dark eye, and another bright red with a scar running over it. The Yondaime's shinobi looked back and forth between the older ANBU and the young jounin standing near them. "Weird," muttered Falcon.

"Kakashi?"

"Sensei," replied the ANBU. "Would you please destroy the gate. He'll be fine, trust me."

The Hokage nodded slightly and turned back to the seals. Now, instead of the seals flaring and fading slowly as they shut down, they were going dark in pieces and out of order. The blonde Kage moved from one set to the next, yanking the supporting chakra out of the seals as fast as possible. Jiraiya worked on the other side, and in less than twenty seconds, all of the seals on the ground had turned dark. As the seals on the ground had been destroyed, the ones on the gate had split back into the original two sets. The man on the other side of the gate was still surrounded by a furious amount of movement.

Namikaze moved to the front of the gate, and raised his hands, fingers glowing with chakra. He touched the gate, and the view through it went hazy. He touched each of the white seals he had formed earlier, and they deactivated as well, one by one. As the symbols disappeared, so did the view through the gate, returning it to nearly the same opaque consistency as it had started out as.

The group could no longer see the other blonde, or Konoha's future. The ninja and villagers now cut off from their own time remained perfectly silent and tense. The gate remained unchanging for one minute, for two, and one of the children let out a soft sob. The villagers began to shift and whisper amongst themselves. Dragon's picked team, arranged near them, could hear the soft words that already mourned the loss of a great man, killed too young, as others argued that they couldn't know he was dead yet.

"I've seen that…boy live through a lot that would have killed any other. Years of it. I wouldn't give him up for dead just yet," said a middle-aged man. Most of the group seemed to agree with this sentiment, though there was a strange sense of guilt that accompanied the many nods.

This comment had also drawn the attention of the other shinobi. The pink-haired medic-nin turned her head towards the villager who had spoken--the first movement any of the group had made since the gate closed. She frowned.

"What were you about to say instead of 'boy'?" she asked, her voice and face angry. "I hope you weren't about to say what I think you were. I really hope you weren't thinking about calling _him_ a demon."

The older man swallowed and licked his lips, suddenly frightened. "It wasn't meant that way. I swear, I don't think like that. I haven't in years anyway." This hardly seemed to placate the kunoichi. The growing tension was broken by a surprising source.

One of the children stepped forward. "Medic-san? Why's it bad to call Protector-sama a demon? Kaa-san said that that's a good thing for us; that we have a protector so strong. Because no one can beat Protector-sama, right?" The child looked up at the kunoichi with large inquisitive eyes.

The woman looked back at the child, blinking repeatedly. She knelt in front of the small boy. "You're right that no one can beat Commander-san, but I don't quite understand what your mother told you. Did she say demons were good?"

The child shook his head, then tilted it in a cute expression. "She said _some_ demons are good. She said demons were created to guard the world, and were s'posed to be angels, but they abandoned their job. The fallen angels then became known as demons. But then sometimes the demons are reborn or turned good again, and then they're like angels again. Kaa-san said Protector-sama was one of those and now he's our guardian angel and he protects all the villagers. So he has to be okay 'cause we're still here, and he still has to help us, right? Protector-sama will beat all of them and come back to us. He's gotta. Kaa-san said he'd always protect us. She said."

Everyone in the area was dumbstruck by this declaration. Even the shinobi from the current era, who didn't know anything about the shinobi of whom they were speaking, remained silent for a time.

At last, the silence was broken by the black-haired ANBU Jaguar. "Of course the baka will be fine. He doesn't know how to stop. He'll return to us." This was said with certainty and expectation, before the ANBU returned to his staring contest with the chakra-made gate. The medic murmured a few words to the child, and ruffled his hair as she stood back up. With one more piercing look to the middle-aged villager, she returned to her watch as well.

There was now complete silence as they waited through the minutes. Another five minutes passed before anything happened.

So slowly, so gradually that it took nearly an entire minute before anyone could confirm the change, the seals that had remained on the surface of the gate--violet in color-- were gaining a harsh reddish tint. As this fierce burning increased in intensity, the speed of the change also increased. The seals finally turned a completely burning red, making the gate glow in a light that those watching could only describe as demonic. Despite the appearance of maliciousness in the chakra, however, the change in the seals seemed to relieve the future Konoha villagers and ninja. The tension seemed to drain out of the group as a whole, and several relieved sighs could be heard, though the attention of the ninjas remained firmly fixated on the gate.

Into this new atmosphere appeared Takama and the two medics. Without moving his eyes from the gate, Jiraiya waved a hand at the villagers and the one medic-nin and one civilian medic got to work, though they quickly realized they would have to do this without the villagers' participation, because not a single one would move his or her attention from the gate. Takama himself took position next to Morino and joined the vigil. Though he had no idea what he was waiting for, he suspected from the presence of a large number of unknown people who had appeared without explanation, that they were actually waiting for a person.

The waiting group remained silent and the only sounds came from the medics who talked in low voices and worked quietly on the villagers and shinobi, or at least the unconscious injured ones. The entire area seemed to have adopted the silent vigil, and the forest was quiet around them.

For what felt like an eternity they waited. Suddenly, the demonically colored seals flared and a hand colored red with both the strange chakra and blood pushed through the gate. This forced opening of the gate was accompanied by the sound of muffled screams and explosions.

The hand clawed at the air before seemingly grasping an invisible handhold, and beginning to pull. A forearm, dripping blood, came through next with veins and muscles straining. As the upper arm began to appear, along with the toes of one foot, the now shocked silence and stillness of the group was broken, and the older Kakashi and one of the other time-travelers (the Hyuuga ANBU) stepped forward to grasp the straining arm.

The group awoke as the two gasped in pain as the chakra licked up their arms , leaving the skin red and raw, but neither let go. More and more of the last future-Konoha shinobi appeared through the gate. The top of a bloody head and eventually a pair of muscled shoulders. All of the shinobi gathered around the gate. The one called Jaguar began to help pull his commander through as soon as a second hand appeared and the villagers, still in the group away from the gate called out to the man. Slowly the shinobi came through the gate, grunting and swearing and gasping for breath. He pushed through time, and with another flash of the seals, fell through, landing in a heap on the ground, curled with his back towards the group. His comrades crowded around him as the gate behind collapsed in a clap of thunder and a hot torrent of chakra filled wind. The world stilled again, and the man went limp and unresponsive as he collapsed in a growing puddle of blood and a decreasing cloud of chakra. His chest, hitching very slightly in long intervals, was the only movement he made.

**A/N**: _There you have it. So I have a few questions for my readers…1) What should Naruto's ANBU codename be? I have Eternal (Kagirinai), Endless (Hateshiganai), Lost (Rosuto), Angel (Mitsukai or Tenshi), Leader (Shuhan), Massacre (Zansatsu), Wild (Mikan or Yasei)_

_2) I will be having spar-like battles between future Konoha shinobi, and some with the 'present' (Yondaime time) shinobi. I would like input into who should face who. Some options, but not limited to these are: Kakashi v Naruto, Naruto v Minato, Naruto v Everyone, Kakashi v Everyone, Neji v Hinata, Neji v Hyuuga clan council people, Neji v Shikamaru, Team 7 minus Kakashi v Minato and Jiraiya, Lee v Sasuke, etc. I also have something funny to put into Shikamaru's spar that will be even funnier if the person he faces is one of the stoic emotionless bunch. _

_There will be no polls, but I really would like some feed back because this stuff needs to come out in the next chapter or the one after that._


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